Time to (Re)visualise Victimology? Introducing Shadow Victimisation through Digital Political Misinformation

• In Event: Cyber Victimization in Context: Patterns, Overlaps, and Emerging Forms

Abstract

The growing volume and mutation of digital misinformation and its diverse typologies reveal that humanity faces a new form of vulnerability. This vulnerability incapacitates individuals from genuinely exercising their legal rights, particularly electoral rights, and making informed political choices, thereby potentially adversely impacting the collective interest of a nation's population and causing a threat to democracies.
In the wake of the abovementioned vulnerabilities, this study aims to (re) visualise victimology in the present era, considering the possibility of large-scale victimisation without the individuals' awareness of their victimhood and, consequently, collective victimisation while exercising their adult franchise. The researcher intends to lay a theoretical foundation for the prevalence of unrecognised victimisation due to misinformation stemming from ignorance or a false sense of empowerment in the digital world (optimism bias) and introduce the concept of "shadow victims".

Authors

• Lennon Yao-Chung Chang, Deakin Cyber Research and Innovation Centre, Deakin University

• Souvik Mukherjee, Deakin Cyber Research and Innovation Centre, Deakin University